Eric's Beijing Diary

Tuesday night I went to coffee with some friends--had to use up some coupons. Cathy said, "I can't have anything cold."

"That's fine," I said. "There is plenty of hot coffee here."

"Coffee keeps me awake."

"OK, then how about some tea?"

"I don't want tea."

Hmmm...that narrowed it down quite a bit. But I was up to the challenge. I found the perfect solution. Boiled Cola with Ginger. There's something for everyone.

Went to the dentist today. I got a new crown on the right side in March--this time it's a tooth on the other side that needs a crown. The tooth has actually been in good shape, just broken down to practically nothing. Recently, it has started to feel a little tender when I bite on something, which suggests that it might be cracked. So, I decided to get a root canal and crown it.

This time I went to the medical school. It's quite a bit more cumbersome than going to the dental clinic that I went to previously, but the dentists there are very competent, and I might save some money. I'll let you know. I don't really like having to take someone with me in order to get around, but I do want to see how this process works, because if it is good, I can more or less figure out how to work with it. The dentist took four x-rays. Man, I have had a lot of x-rays in the past year! X-rays for my medical exam before I came, x-rays from the dentist a day before I left for China. X-rays from the medical exam they gave me when I got here. X-rays from my dental visit in March. When I got home this evening, it was a little dark in my apartment, and I noticed that I was glowing (just kidding).

I have been listening to a series of reports on NPR called, On the Road in China. It is a very interesting journal of Rob Gifford's trip along Route 312 from Shanghai to Xinjiang. This highway really exemplifies the economic contrast between Eastern and Western China. It reminds me of the old "Route 66" in the United States, except that the direction of prosperity tends to be the other way. I guess that shouldn't seem strange, since the route from Xinjiang to Shanghai leads away from the poor, remote, rural inland areas to the coast where there is more prosperity.

During the "Dirty Thirties" in the United States, old Route 66 was cluttered with people desperate to get away from the impoverishment of middle America. I wasn't around then, but I can sure relate to it, because I ran that old route more times than I can count during the years when I was on the road. It's all freeways now--55 out of Chicago going down to St. Louis, where you catch 44 and head down to Oklahoma City, where you pick up 40 and head straight west across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona until you reach Barstow, California. Then you take 15, which comes out of Vegas, down into L.A.

Some day I would like to travel Route 312 heading west out of Shanghai. Or maybe it would be best to start on the other end. I have always wondered what it would be like to hitchhike across China. Maybe I will get a chance--not sure if it would work. It's just not part of the culture here. When I hitchhiked across the United States as an eighteen-year-old kid, there were lots and lots of people who drove by without stopping. But nobody had to wonder what I was doing. In China, they might not be so sure.